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2013 BMX Worlds - Brian Gavagan

October 09, 2013 -
Brian Gavagan

In June I had two BMX friends from Germany stay with me in Denver for a week. We rode a bunch of street spots, skateparks and went camping so they could get the full-on "Coloradical experience." They mentioned the upcoming BMX Worlds in Cologne in mid-July and asked if I'd be making the trip to compete and experience the vibe of one of the biggest competitions of the year.

I hadn't planned on competing in the Worlds, as we had a busy show schedule around Colorado, but I knew the team could handle the performances back home without me, so myself and James McGraw booked tickets and started practicing our contest routines for BMX Flatland. I also wanted to compete in BMX Vert, but since there isn't a vert ramp in Denver anymore, I decided to wait until I rode the ramp in Germany to decide if I would compete in Vert.

We flew into Paris, France so later in the week we could travel into Germany with a couple of our french friends that were familiar with the location details and venue. Upon arrival in Paris, we hit up a farmer's market for some delicious fresh fruits and pastries and then went to the infamous "Le Opera" riding spot. This flatland spot is great and we met a few of the french locals that were putting the finishing touches on their worlds competition routines.It's a great scene in Paris and when we ever needed a break from riding, we headed off to see the sights of one of the most beautiful cities in the world! The Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, the River Seine, such gorgeous monuments and great weather to be on bikes in the city of light!

Each of the 4 days that we were in Paris, we covered a lot of ground on our BMX bikes and rode in so many sweet spots. We even discovered a portable half-pipe set up on the banks of the Seine river!

The day before the Worlds, we were trying to get to the meet up point with our french friends and since it was rush hour on a Friday, the trains were extremely busy and we kept getting kicked off the trains with our bikes! We finally made our way onto a train without the conductor seeing us with our bikes and showed up at the proper station to rendezvous with our mates & load up the car to drive on the Autobahn to Germany.

It was awesome driving on the Autobahn and even though we weren't in a sports car, we saw lots of them as they blew past us going 150-200kmh!

Upon arrival in Germany, it was time for bratwurst and cold beer! We checked into the hotel late that night and upon waking up saw lots of our BMX homies from around the globe.

The contest venue in Cologne was in a huge park on the banks of the Rhine river. Epic spot with plenty of room for ramps, tents, spectator areas, vendors and when you wanted to take a break from it all, you could go chill on the banks of the Rhine river and watch the boats go by.

I was born in Germany and this was the first time back for me, since my birth, so I was very excited about that and I was very excited to compete in my first "Worlds experience!"

The Pro Flatland class was stacked with riders from over a dozen countries and the level of progression coming from all corners of the globe is incredible! I was in the second heat of riders and put together a good couple of runs and pulled the tricks I'd been working on. I rode the vert ramp with Mat Hoffman and Coco Zurita and ended up having a couple of crashes that solidified my decision to not enter vert since I hadn't been riding it back home.

We finished off our time in Germany watching the finals of vert, dirt and street and then said, "farewell" to all of our friends from around the globe. We headed back to Paris, tired and slightly overwhelmed by all that we had experienced in 3 short days.

I'm already making plans to go back next year for the 30th anniversary of the BMX Worlds in Cologne, Germany! Check out http://bmxworlds.de/13/ for video recaps and info on the event.